Smaller Size Boxes

Tanaka Farms has introduced smaller sized boxes for smaller families.  They will cost $20 ($18 to TF, $2 to the PTA).  We've been getting the larger boxes ($25/$5 split).  The smaller boxes will contain produce staples.  The larger boxes will contain everything in the little boxes, plus specialty produce (Kohrabi anyone?).

In order to gauge interest, Tanaka Farms will deliver a sample small box with our regular delivery on April 22, 2010.  Come by Neighborhood Grinds on Earth Day, April 22, to check out the boxes.  If there is enough interest, I can accept orders for the smaller boxes starting in May.

A Guest Post on the Tanaka Farms Family Day

Lincoln CSA member Lisa Bennett filed this report about her rainy but delicious morning at Tanaka Farms:

We got an invitation from Tanaka Farms to come visit on Community Supported Agriculture Day. So we started out at 9 am Saturday morning and rain was in the forecast. Half way there it was pouring, but we kept going, hoping for a break in the weather... or maybe it wasn't raining in Irvine?

Turns out it wasn't just yet. So after being greeted and accounted for by staff, we got out to the field at 10:00 and picked radishes, onions, sugar snap peas, cilantro and bok choy for our lunch. The rain started in a gentle sprinkle as we walked up the slope to the picnic area. Everything there was under cover and it was a good thing because it then started pouring.

There was a long high table fitted with overhead water spigots where we washed our veggies, then we went to the cutting station and chopped and seasoned our harvest. We added some tofu and oil to the mix and wrapped everything up in foil packets. Big barbques were ready to roast our creations. And we made some raw salads too. They had some beets and onions already roasted to sample. Oh my goodness were those golden beets good! That was really a tasty lunch. There's nothing like veggies fresh from the field.

Farmers Tanaka (husband and wife) walked around and chatted with everyone. They were very gracious hosts. Right about when we were done eating, the rain stopped and we were able to go pick some strawberries for dessert. It was a perfect morning.

2010 CSA Day, Strawberry Edition

Join us Saturday, March 6 at Tanaka Farms in Irvine.  This event is free for Tanaka Farms CSA subscribers and their families.  The Spring CSA Day is our family favorite because of the strawberries.   See pictures and a description of the strawberry tour in April 2009.

Families are greeted with a map of the farm, where things are planted and a list of produce they can pick.  Begin by taking a self-guided walk through the farm.  (There are lots of friendly staff working in the field to guide and help visitors!)  Then it is on to the washing station to scrub the soil off the veggies.  After that, visit the chop and season station, add some tofu and spices, and wrap those veggies in a foil package, ready for the grill.  Enjoy a cool drink while you wait for your veggies.  You deserve the break.

After munching on a lunch provided by Tanaka Farms and the veggies, stroll down to the strawberry patch to pick dessert!  Strawberry fields forever....

If you subscribe through Lincoln Elementary, RSVP to Kelly.  If you subscribe through Madison Elementary (Neighborhood Grinds pickup), then RSVP to Grace.  You must RSVP by 5 PM Thursday, March 4th.  Thanks.

Make potstickers with your Napa Cabbage

Potstickers and dumplings are a Lunar New Year tradition in many Asian cultures. Tanaka Farms has thoughtfully provided Napa Cabbage for us this week.

This filling can be used to make won tons (square skins), potstickers and boiled dumplings (round skins).

1. Dice the napa cabbage and cook it in a pot on medium heat.  Let the cabbage 'sweat' out some of its water.  (Some people add salt to fascilitate this.)  Set aside and let cool.
2. (Opt) Put some dried shitake mushrooms in warm water to rehydrate
3. In a large bowl, mash 1/2 pound of ground pork (Pork is traditional, but ground turkey or chicken also works.  For extra special occasions, use a mixture of ground pork and shrimp.)
4. Add an egg
5. 1 bunch of chopped scallions/green onions
6. Mince some ginger (I use a lot, ~1/4 C).  Reserve half for the sauce, and throw the rest of the minced ginger into the filling mixture.
7. If you have some shitake mushrooms, drain and mince them.  Add to the mix.
8. Strain the water out of the napa cabbage as much as you can and add to the mix.
9. Add salt, pepper and toasted sesame oil to taste
10. Mix thoroughly and you are ready to wrap the dumplings!
11. Cook the dumplings in your desired style.
12. Combine soy sauce, white vinegar, minced ginger and hot oil to make the sauce

There are lots of resources on the web showing how to wrap dumplings.

Lincoln Box contents, 11 February

Here it is, all unpacked and basking on the dining room table:
What you see is what we got: avocados, carrots, apples, cilantro, broccoli, green onions, cauliflower, spinach, radicchio (the dark reddish lettuce-like item), napa cabbage (the huge and heavy head of greens at the back), and another head of light-green lettuce.

Napa cabbage is the stuff often found in kimchi, btw. So it's quite sturdy!

A Magenta Heart!

Welcome February with a bright magenta heart, using CSA box ingredients...Four ingredients: shredded beets (from the CSA box), chopped red cabbage (from the CSA box), garlic powder (wish I had some real garlic around but I didn't), and a little mayonnaise. There are many, many variations of this traditional Russian dish online; some include nuts, or citrus or onions; some include horseradish and a vinegar-based dressing; some use ranch dressing in place of mayo. It's all good.

I did not like beets until this year. Yeah for the CSA experience! And thanks to my friend Rubi, for suggesting I try this--she was right.

The 1/28/10 Lincoln Box

Early dismissal meant we got to have our boxes a little earlier today...
Beautiful colors as always. We have lemons, oranges, red cabbage, mixed greens, cilantro, parsley, tomatoes, broccoli, spinach, carrots, bok choy, and two kinds of lettuce.

Jan 21 Box

Our box was crammed to the gills today. I was worried about the effect of the large amount of rain we have received this week upon this week's produce. We needn't have worried. They were amazingly moist and crisp today.

I had to move the gigantic head of Romaine lettuce out of the way to show you the rest.

• 1 head of Romaine 
• 1 head of butter lettuce
• 1 bunch of swiss chard
• 2 pints of strawberries
• 1 pint of tomatoes
• 1 bunch of radishes
• 2 bunches of carrots
• 1 bunch of green onions
• 1 bunch of Chinese broccoli
• 1 bunch of spinach
• 2 purple kohlrabis

What's a kohlrabi? It's another member of the brassical family.

Doesn't it look like a purple UFO? I am saving the radish, carrot and kohlrabi tops for a hearty winter soup with beans, sausage, onions and potatoes. I have never eaten a kohlrabi before, but I have read about them.  Last summer, Mark Bittman wrote that he eats chopped kohlrabi raw in a summer salad, much as he would eat a chopped radish.  (Read his 101 simple salads of the season.) 

Simply Recipes has a bunch of links to kohlrabi recipes.  So does cooks.com. The braised kohlrabi recipe at recipe tips sounds (and looks) really good.  The related recipe they offer on the right side for beet greens will also work for the kohlrabi greens.

Leave a comment to tell me how you cooked yours.  I'd like to know.

Last week, I worried about the effect of this week's rain upon the strawberries.  Sure enough, we found our strawberries this week not as uniformly sweet as last week's batch.  Some were just as sweet, but others were just OK.  How did you find your strawberries?

Winter Strawberries

True winter strawberries (rather than those imported from a warmer clime) are a rare and precious commodity. They look pretty ordinary, but they are the most amazingly sweet strawberries we have ever tasted.

When we took the Tanaka Farms CSA family day tour, Glenn Tanaka told us that the first crop of strawberries in the season are his favorite.  They plant strawberries in October/November.  By the end of December, the first strawberries ripen.  Winter berries are the smallest and sweetest strawberries the plant will ever produce.

They mature more slowly due to the cold weather and shorter days.  There are only a few, not enough for commercial harvest. Glenn says he and the rest of the TF family love to walk the fields then, searching for strawberries under the leaves and eating them right away.

By January, there are a bit more--enough to share with the CSA families.  Last week, we received two pints of these ambrosial berries in our CSA box.  In February-March, when the days get warmer and longer, the plants go into full-scale production.  They can pick the plants every few days because the berries grow and ripen so quickly.  They will also be bigger, but they will never be as sweet and precious as those early season jewels.

Sadly, the heavy rains this week may damage the strawberry plants.  They need just the right amount of rain and this may be too much.  Mildew can set in on strawberry plants if there isn't sufficient sunshine and wind to dry the plants out between waterings.

We hope for more winter strawberries in this week's box, but we are prepared to be disappointed.  The ones from South America or greenhouses sold in the supermarkets are not the same.

The contents of the January 14 box:

• 2 pints of unbelievably sweet strawberries
• 1 head of butter lettuce
• 1 bunch of carrots
• 1 head of cauliflower
• 1 bunch of broccoli
• 1 bunch of cilantro
• 1 bunch of beets
• 1 bag of small yellow onions
  

2010 CSA Update

I hope you all had a wonderful winter break.

The CSA program resumes this week.  Madison and Lincoln deliveries begin Thursday, 14 January 2010.

On , 31 December 2009, Tanaka Farms officially announced the 2010 prices.  Boxes are now $30 with $25 going to TF and $5 going to the PTA.  (At the December Family Day down on the farm, Farmer Tanaka gave a heads up to some of the tractor ride tour groups.)


Part of the reason for the price increase is because of lower than expected volumes per delivery site.  Madison is one of the low participation schools (5-10 boxes per week).  We hope to grow our program, despite the price increase.  Even at $30 per box, this is still about $15 lower than another CSA program that serves our area.


Remember that CSA members are invited to CSA Family Days on the farm.  Tanaka Farms normally charges as much as $13 per person for these fun and educational tours.  Recent subscriber families can attend FREE.  There are ~4 tours per year, one for each season.


Early Spring means strawberries!  See the post about the 2009 strawberry tour for photos.
Summer means watermelons.  Fall brings pumpkins and the winter tour is a festive holiday party.  In the spring and summer, kids go into the fields to pick their own produce.  They can cook it up right there on the farm, and/or take some home.